Kicking off the 2019 Internship Season!

On May 26 the 2019 cohort of IRIS interns gathered in Socorro, NM for the program's annual orientation week. Through the week's agenda, our 14 undergraduates, developed a strong sense of community, were introduced to some of the most exciting aspects of modern seismology, and explored the geology of the Rio Grande rift valley! Students gained hands-on experience with both passive and active source data collection systems with the support of the IRIS/PASSCAL Instrument center. Students then explored their data in the computer labs on the New Mexico Tech campus, while learning/refining scientific coding skills. This year's orientation week also featured a 2-hour anti-harassment /discrimination training to prepare students to enter the scientific community as future graduate students ready to contribute to cultural change. As always, a highlight of the trip was a tour of the Magdalena Ridge Observatory, and helping some of our physcist and mathmatician friends learn to appreciate rocks in the field (bottom right)!

This year's agenda featured faculty from across the country ( Sue Bilek [NMT], Juan Loranzo [LSU], Tolu Olugboji [U. of Rochester]), staff from the NM Bureau of Geology (Mairi Litherland - an IRIS Internship program alumna & Richard Chamberlin) and the PASSCAL Instrument Center (Greg Chavez, Eric Makarewicz, Akram Mostafanejad, and Dave Thomas), and another program alumna, Ada Dominguez, currently employed in the oil and gas industry. We are grateful for the expertise and passion our staff shares with the interns. As usual, our week closed with a cook out a San Lorenzo Canyon and a career panel. A special thanks to staff from Sandia National Labs (Brian Young) and the USGS (Rob Anthony) who joined our staff to round out career options available to geophyscists.